North Dakota’s taxable sales report for 2015’s second quarter is out and, not surprisingly, the numbers are down. I say not surprisingly because just a couple of weeks ago the state got a revenue report showing sales tax revenues coming in nearly 4 percent – or more than $52 million – under projections. Also, we…

North Dakota’s policymakers keep insisting there’s no east/west political divide in the state, but that was hard to tell from a political debate over a bill to divert more state sales tax revenues to western communities. The bill is HB1344, introduced by Rep. Gary Sukut (R-Williston), and would increase the share of sales tax revenues…

When I was growing up, we didn’t have many things. We had what we needed, but rarely got what we wanted. I always dreamed of having the greatest stereo system that money could buy. I love music, and I love it loud. However, with my mother working 3 jobs, I was lucky to get a…

Online shoppers last year spent an estimated $225 billion in retail. While that number is significant in this economy, it only represents about six percent of all retail transactions. Nearly 95 percent of consumers still prefer to see, feel and touch what they are buying. Nevertheless, the growth in online sales has been impressive enough…

North Dakota occupies a unique position in the debate over the so-called Marketplace Fairness Act, which would allow states to apply their sales and use taxes to online retailers. It was the Quill vs. North Dakota, a Supreme Court case litigated by then-Tax Commissioner Heidi Heitkamp and Attorney General Nick Spaeth, which set the current…

State Senator Tom Campbell (R-Grafton) has a letter in the Grand Forks Herald today extolling the virtues of the state property tax spending (we have got to stop calling it “tax relief”) by explaining what the impact might be on the average property tax payer: Let’s assume you live in Grand Forks or Walsh County…

There’s nothing fair about the Marketplace Fairness Act, which both of North Dakota’s Senators voted for. In addition to lumping more red tape and tax burden onto online shopping – which means higher prices for everyone who shops online – its an expansion of taxation to companies that use none of the services the taxes…

I’d like to thank “Say Anything Blog” for printing John Dorso’s recent column, “Eliminate the Income Tax, Not the Property Tax.” Mr. Dorso purported to “dis” elimination of property taxes and at the same time tried to sound like he was “dising” the body of which he served as the former Republican House Majority Leader.…

The US Senate just passed the misnamed Marketplace Fairness Act on a 69-27 vote. Both of North Dakota’s Senators, John Hoeven and Heidi Heitkamp, voted for the bill which allows states to collect sales taxes from online retailers even if they have no physical presence in the state in question and thus use none of…

The House and Senate finally found some common ground on property taxes after a row kicked off yesterday morning when the House reconsidered, and rejected, Governor Jack Dalrymple’s plan to have the state effectively take over education funding from the local governments. Here’s what went down: Governor Dalrymple’s $714 million education mills buy-down was reduced…